A Westview High junior in Rancho Penasquitos has collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition that demands the Poway Unified School District cut all ties with SeaWorld, and his effort has gained the backing of a national animal rights organization.

Zach Affolter, 17, launched the petition May 4 on Change.org. As of Friday, more than 1,200 people had signed it; his goal is 5,000.

“It’s been incredible,” Affolter said about the attention he has received. “It just caught on by its own. I can’t believe how fast it’s picked up.”

SeaWorld has been the focus of criticism in recent months, largely sparked from the documentary “Blackfish,” which painted a harsh pitch of how orcas, or killer whales, are treated at the parks.

Affolter said he participated in protests outside of SeaWorld for two years before the documentary was released.

Westview High School junior Zach Affolter, shown at a recent protest outside SeaWorld, is asking the Poway Unified School District to stop holding proms, field trips and other activities at the park.

Westview High School junior Zach Affolter, shown at a recent protest outside SeaWorld, is asking the Poway Unified School District to stop holding proms, field trips and other activities at the park.

Westview High School junior Zach Affolter, shown at a recent protest outside SeaWorld, is asking the Poway Unified School District to stop holding proms, field trips and other activities at the park.

“‘Blackfish’ has made it more acceptable for society to speak up against SeaWorld,” he said. “Before, I don’t think I would have gotten this much coverage.”

He identified himself on the petition as a social media campaigner with the group Protest SeaWorld, the founder of Declare Cetacean Rights and a junior activist captain with Earthrace, a nonprofit focused on issues that threaten oceans and marine life.

Affolter said he started his petition after learning that the district’s Mt. Carmel High School had planned its prom at SeaWorld.

He said he is not, however, petitioning to move the prom, nor does he want to shut down SeaWorld.

“I respect the (Mt. Carmel) juniors’ decision to have prom at SeaWorld, but I think that a little more thought could have been put into selecting a venue that has not been under fire or one that promotes animal cruelty,” he wrote in an email to U-T San Diego.

He said he would like the prom moved, but his main goal is to stop any future activities Poway Unified has planned at the park until SeaWorld changes its business model.

“A lot of my generation has been taught that it’s OK to go to SeaWorld,” he said. “But for the new generation, it’s key for us to step away.”

Asked about Affolter’s petition, SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz defended the park’s practices in an email.

“There is no organization more passionately committed to the physical, mental and social care and well-being of all of animals than SeaWorld,” he wrote.

Koontz said more than 9 million students have participated in educational programs at SeaWorld during the past 50 years.

Affolter said he wants Poway Unified to stop all future field trips, proms or other activities planned for SeaWorld until the park ends the use of captive orcas for entertainment, stops its breeding program, bans the import and export of whales or their semen, and releases all captive orcas into sea pens.

Those demands would be met with the passage of state Assembly Bill 2140. The bill is being revised and is not expected to return to the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee for a year and a half.

As an alternative to SeaWorld field trips, Affolter said students can go on whale-watching trips and attend beach cleanups where they would learn about the oceans and the importance of cleaning up trash and recycling.

Although Affolter’s petition does not ask Mt. Carmel to move its prom, PETA did just that.

The group said it also sent a letter to the high school, offering to pay for moving the prom to another location and to provide TeachKind classroom presentations about SeaWorld.

PETA also announced it was sending a DVD of “Blackfish” to Poway Unified administrators along with a letter asking the district to set a positive example by stopping field trips “to a theme park that celebrates cruelty to animals.”

Affolter said he was surprised to learn PETA had offered its support.

“I think that one person can do so much to change the world, but even one person needs help and support,” he said.

Poway Unified Trustee Kimberley Beatty said she admired Affolter’s civic engagement and care about an issue important to him.

Without saying whether she supported his position, Beatty said he raised an issue worth discussion.

“I think it’s an interesting topic and something that should be brought before the board,” she said. “What we need to do is gather information and create a debate where all sides relay their opinion.”

Koontz, the SeaWorld spokesman, encouraged people who have heard about the controversy to visit the website www.SeaWorld.com/Truth and www.SeaWorldCares.com.